Original image by There Stands the Glass.
I listened to Ace for the first time last month. Hearing the 50th anniversary deluxe edition of Bob Weir’s 1972 solo album was a revelation. I hadn’t known that the recorded versions of sturdy classics like “Mexicali Blues,” “One More Saturday Night” and “Playing in the Band” first appeared on Ace.
The live version of the album featuring Weir’s current Wolf Bros band included in the reissue is so good that it inspired this skeptic to buy a ticket to catch Weir’s show at Louisville Palace on Saturday, February 25. It was a sound decision.
Unlike the Grateful Dead and Ratdog concerts I (reluctantly) attended in the previous millennium, the performance attended by a near-capacity audience of about 2,500 was inspired. The ten-piece ensemble sounded like a rugged garage-rock band that managed to grow old gracefully without losing its endearingly rough edges.
The show opened with my favorite Dead song “Bertha” and closed with the apropos “One More Saturday Night.” If only the alleged fans had been as sophisticated as the musicians. The incessant blathering of a third of the audience marred the otherwise miraculous evening.